Sakura's Heart
by NinjaCherryBlossom
Summary: OK THIS STORY IS BACK ON TRACK! Sakura was shattered inside when Sasuke left her. But when she discovered a secret that she wasn't meant to know, she snapped. A few years later, she was done with emotions and when he returned, she was done with him too. SasukexSakura
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

For Naruto and Sakura it was a blow to the heart when Sasuke left. But Naruto got better as Hinata was there to provide support, however Sakura didn't have luck on her side. She had lost her family the same year that Sasuke left. Her parents were killed, the reason was unknown. It was only a year after Sasuke left, when she discovered something that would change her life forever, not that it already had. So the gossip after Sasuke left was that someone of the Uchiha family had done a horrible deed. She normally wouldn't care about it but the thing was that everyone was giving her looks of sympathy. She found this very confusing. So a few nights later, she sneaked into the Hokage's office and 'borrowed' the criminal records. She looked for the name Uchiha. When she found the event, she read it and collapsed from anger, shock and sadness. (I made this up)

_Itachi Uchiha _

_Status- S criminal_

_Reason- For the murder of members of the Haruno clan. Includes Kizashi Haruno and Mebuki Haruno_

When Sakura saw the names of her parents, her heart became shadowed and filled with anger. The next morning the Hokage, who had come for her daily check-up because she treated Sakura like her own daughter, found Sakura frozen to the spot. She rushed to her side and found the records. She gasped. She had discovered it.

For the next few years, Sakura's heart became more and more shadowed. It soon became ice and she lost the ability to feel emotions. Her hatred for Uchiha's increased by the day. But she wasn't as stupid as Sasuke to go for revenge. She just locked up her inner and everything that had to do with Sasuke. Her friends had tried everything to release from the darkness. In the end nothing worked so they all decided to leave her be and treat her normally. However, Naruto never gave up. At night, he would pray for the return of his two friends. Whenever he saw Sakura he would say to himself

_I will heal you. Once I bring back Teme, you will be normal again. Believe it_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Sasuke had just returned from Uchiha hideout. He had successfully killed Itachi. When his brother died, it triggered something in him. He was still a cold ass but he had become more understanding. He was on his way back to Konoha and was planning to ask to live there again. Team Hebi still followed him. But Karin was very reluctant. She had heard of a pink haired beauty who resided in Konoha.

"Sasssukkkeee-kkkkunnn, why do we have to go back, can't we just find an isolate place where we can have babies together?" Sasuke tried not to gag. He was going to say something back but Suigetsu beat him to it.

"Eeeeeeeeewwww, who would want to have babies with you, you're a slut whose head is way above the clouds." With that, Karin and Suigetsu's daily fight began. Sasuke looked that two immature people in front of him and inwardly groaned. When the word immature popped into his head, his thoughts drifted off to Naruto. _Well that's a bigger idiot. _Then his thoughts drifted off to Sakura. He often thought about her but convinced himself that she was still the weak fan girl.

"Let's go" and then the team left.

In Konoha, the village had stopped what they were doing. One of the strongest ninja's in the whole village was walking through. Sakura Haruno had grown into a beautiful girl. She was a girl with curves in the right places. She had grown her hair and her bangs. One side covered her eye. Her hair was plaited to the side. (Like this, I don't own this image) fs70/i/2011/050/7/f/sakura_haruno_my_style_by_

Her attire was black. On her right arm was a tattoo of a black cherry blossom that ran from her shoulder to her elbow. She was wearing a black tee that stopped just above her belly bottom. Then on top of that was a long open coat (Like Kirito from SAO) with a stand up collar. For bottoms were tights that reached to her thigh and a skirt (Kinda like her Shippuden bottoms but black). Her kunai and shuriken pouch were in its usual spot. Then she had on high heel, knee high ninja shoes. To finish it off was her black fingerless gloves. Over the years, she had learned to use a Katana actually two so those were strapped onto her back in a cross shape.

Anyway, as she was walking through the village, her fan boys that she had developed over the years were fawning over her. She gave them a glare that even the Uchiha's couldn't match. They all cowered and ran for their lives. She felt a tug on her jacket. She turned around and found a little girl. She vaguely remembered that her family was one of the poorest families in the village. The little girl had her hands stretched out. Sakura just looked at her. The mother ran out and smacked the child on the head.

"Have you no manners? I am terribly sorry Sakura-sama." She was trying to tug the little girl but she wouldn't budge. Since Sakura was such a powerful ninja, she was quite rich. Her eyes softened just a little bit at the sight of the little girl. She pulled a few notes from her pocket and a few lollies and handed it to the girl.

"Here" and turned to leave. The little girl smiled her biggest smile and the mother looked at Sakura with a look of gratefulness.

"Arigato gozimasu Sakura sama"

"Onee chan, DAISUKI!" Sakura widened her eyes a little bit at the little girl's comment. It had been a long time she's heard that word. Love, the memories resurfaced but Sakura pushed it away. Wanting to get away, Sakura just nodded and raised her hand as a sign of goodbye. Sakura's heart was made of ice no doubt but she's did everything she could to help the village. On her way to the mansion, she had bumped into Naruto and Sai.

"Naruto, Sai" she said to them as a greeting.

"Sa...Sakura chan" said Naruto. Sakura narrowed her eyes. Something was wrong.

"Sakura, the Hokage wants to see you" said Sai. Immediately, Sakura disappeared. Naruto and Sai headed to the Hokage's office.

"I'm still trying to figure out how she does that" Naruto pouted.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

*At the Hokage's office*

"Lady Tsunade, you wished to see me?" Sakura had arrived at the office in seconds.

_Her speed continues to amaze me_ thought Tsunade.

"Yes. Now I want you to remain calm and" Tsunade stopped. A thought ran through her head and she looked up. Sakura was standing there with eyes that hadn't lit in 4 years and by the looks of things, that's not likely to change. _She's calm even on assassination missions. _"Err. Never mind that. I just wanted to tell you...he's back."

"Who?" Sakura had stiffened and looked around suspiciously.

"Let them in" the Hokage told Shizune. A group of ninjas walked in, Sakura stopped breathing when her eyes landed on their leader.

The leader was a well built, tall man with raven hair with stoic onyx eyes. His attire was nearly the same as the black one he use to wear but he had a black cloak on top. Clinging onto him was a red head with matching eyes. She was wearing a purple top and shorts that were way too short for her own good. Behind them were two more men. One wearing a purple shirt and blue pants and had white hair, the other was wearing a blue shirt and a cape. He had orange hair.

"Uchiha...Sa...s...u...ke" Sakura hissed out. Tsunade had shrunk into her chair, almost in fear of what was going to follow. Sakura grinded her teeth together and kept her head down. Sasuke looked at the girl in from of him. _No way...this is Sakura?_ He thought. _She's so different... _

"Sakura" he nodded his head as a greeting. "Long time" When Sakura looked up, what shocked him the most was her eyes. They were filled with coldness and were void of any other emotion other than anger.

"Uchiha, did they drag you back or did you come back willingly?" Her voice was only a bit louder than a whisper but somehow, he caught every word.

"Willingly, I have a goal here." Sakura took three steps until she was only a step away from him. Sasuke, for some reason, took a step back. During all this, Karin was getting really angry. _How dare these people treat me like I'm not here! So that's the pink haired beauty that lives here. I'm prettier than her. _Karin continued to look at Sasuke and Sakura and listen.

"I'd love to continue talking but I should give you a warning first." Sakura pulled Sasuke's shirt until his ear was next to her face. Then in a whisper that only he could hear, she said "From now on, be careful" Karin's face was red and was about to slap Sakura back but Sakura had already pushed him back. Not waiting for a reaction, she walked up to the Hokage and said goodbye. Sasuke expected her to walk up to him and start fangirling and telling him that this coldness thing was just an act. But how wrong was he.

She walked passed him without a word. But along with silence came a Chakra Enforced Punch to the Stomach! Sasuke was blasted through the door and slammed into the wall creating a giant hole. Karin was screaming her head off and cursing sakura. The other members just looked really shocked. Karin ran up to Sasuke and started fussing over him. Sakura walked right passed them. But she suddenly stopped. She walked back to him and kneeled down. Karin was now a bit frightened of this girl. As Sakura leaned towards Sasuke, Karin leaned back and fell on her butt.

"I nearly forgot. Welcome back, Sasuke" She said his name as if it was poison to her mouth. With that she walked off, without a word. Sasuke could only stare after her. Karin also stared after her but in horror.

"HOW DARE SHE HIT MY SASUKE-KUN!?"

"Oh Burn man~~! I like her already!" cried Suigetsu. Jugo just looked concerned about Sasuke.

When he tried to get up, he winced. Tsunade had gotten out of her seat and started walking towards him.

"A few broken ribs" she said, analysing his body. She quickly healed them. When Sasuke stood back up. Karin reached to steady him which Sasuke pushed aside.

"Sasuke Uchiha, you will under house arrest for a month and if you go outside or anywhere, Anbu will escort you. The same treatment will be given to your team mates after we find them a place to live. Now..."

"No need for me, I'm staying with Sasuke as I am the future Mrs Uchiha" interrupted Karin. Tsunade glared at the girl who dared interrupt.

"No Hokage, she will not be staying with me. Please continue" Karin pouted but didn't say anything.

"As I was saying, that is all. You are all dismissed." Sasuke limped out with the rest of his team. Once they were out, Karin started to piss them all off.

"HOW DARE SHE TOUCH MY SASUKE-KUN!?" Sasuke was getting really annoyed at her. At one point, he was urged to punch her but thankfully, the ANBU who were in charge of finding them a home had come to take them away. Sasuke wondered alone to the Uchiha household. When he reached it her found it clean and shiny. He stood there in wonder. _Who had cleaned it for 4 years? _He wondered around and when he entered his room, he found his desk all neat and tidy. He was really surprised that someone would be bothered to clean up a person's house that was considered a traitor. But he pushed aside that thought and immediately collapsed on his bed. _My stomach still hurts..._


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you to the first five reviews for this story! Special mention to them **

AnnaTheDevil97

CIOP970

Shadowlove'scookies

Shadowburne

kathymoonstone

**Sorry that the chapters are so short! My long chapters are probably going to be in the story later I hope! **

**Chapter 4**

Sasuke woke up today and was determined to find out what was wrong with Sakura. When he left, he saw ANBU ninjas waiting to escort him. He walked through the village, receiving glares and whispers from the villagers. He knew that it would happen so he ignored all of it. He went to the one place that he was sure to find the dobe. When he arrived he looked at the sign. _Ichiraku Ramen Store _

Today was the day that he was finally going to get some answers. He entered the store and just as he predicted, Naruto was having ramen with Kakashi.

"Yea and then the cat went...Oh Sasuke-Teme!" Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto was muttering his nonsense again. As Sasuke joined them, Naruto ordered ramen for him. Then he turned to Sasuke.

"Whatcha here for?" Sasuke looked at his with a raised eyebrow.

"What, I can't join my comrade for ramen?"

"Come on Sasuke, I know you WAYYYY better than that. You would rather eat dirt then spend a day with me." Naruto said with a smirk. Sasuke felt a twinge in his heart. _Does he see me like that?_ (THIS IS NOT NARUSASU! EW.) He sighed and told him the real reason why he had come.

"Fine, I came to ask you a question. What happened to Sakura?" Naruto's eyes dimmed and he stopped eating. Kakashi excused himself as he knew they should be alone. Kakashi also gestured for the ANBU to leave.

"Its complicated. Are you ready?" Sasuke looked at him confused.

"Y...yes"

"You already know that you shattered her when you left. She locked herself in her house for 3 days. Tsunade baba eventually had to knock her door down. It turned out that she had starved herself and was about to start cutting." Sasuke dropped his chopsticks. He was shocked to say the least.

"An...And then?" Naruto had stopped eating and was standing up.

"Let us take this elsewhere." With that, Sasuke paid for the meal and left with Naruto. He had no idea where he was going. At last Naruto stopped. They seemed to be in the middle of the forest. Naruto sat down, much to Sasuke's surprise.

"Here is good. It's more private." Sasuke sat down as Naruto continued.

"When Sakura returned to society she had changed drastically. Her hairstyle was different. Her outfit changed from pink to black. She didn't talk to anyone, unless it had to do with missions or getting stronger. She trained with the strongest shinobis in the village. She even left to train with Gaara. And when they came to stay in Konoha, Gaara was beat up fairly badly whereas Sakura only had a few scratches " Sasuke's eyes widened. Gaara is one of the most powerful shinobi's, to have train with him is possible but he never imagined that Sakura could defeat him as well.

"When Sakura finished training, she was promoted to ANBU before anyone of us had." Sasuke's mouth was now wide open. _S...Sakura made ANBU?! _

"That still doesn't explain why he hated the word Uchiha. Explain." Naruto lowered his head.

"Sorry Sasuke, I can tell you anything but that. I think we are done here" With that he walked off, leaving Sasuke the option of only staring after him. He walked back to the village. Since he was still thinking about Sakura, he wasn't looking where he was going and he crashed into someone. He looked down at the figure.

"Look where you're going, stupid"

"Back at you dickhead" Sasuke widened his eyes. His onyx eyes met sharp but dull emerald ones. He had crashed into Sakura.

"Sakura..." He was about to help her up when she got up by herself and brushed right past him. Without thinking, Sasuke suddenly grabbed her arm to stop her. Sakura stopped and looked back at him with eyes filled with hatred. Sasuke unconsciously gulped and his mouth didn't move.

"Eh...Sakura..." Suddenly it hit him; if he couldn't get it out of Naruto then he'd just ask her. He recomposed and said

"Why do you hate me so?" Sakura's eyes held more anger then before but then bowed her head.

"You know why" And was about to free herself but Sasuke held tighter.

"I meant why you hate the Uchiha's so much?!" Sasuke was getting a bit pissed. But so was Sakura.

"IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS" She yanked herself free but Sasuke caught her again.

"I'm not letting you go until you tell me."

"Let go"

"No"

"Let go!"

"No"

"DAMN IT LET GO" she yelled, and in a flash she had a kunai to his throat. "Don't get cocky" She said through clenched teeth.

"Back at you" She looked down and saw a kunai aimed at her abdomen. She sighed. In a flash, she yanked free, grabbed kunai and pointed both at him. Sasuke was shocked. _When did she learn to move like that. _

"I said don't get cocky." When she was sure that he understood. She turned to walk back the other way; she slipped the kunai back into his holster and said

"I will be referred as Haruno by the likes of you" With that, she walked off. Sasuke stared at her almost in longing. He snapped out of it. He was Uchiha, he doesn't go to the girl, the girl goes to him. So he decided to wait and see how things turn out. He turned back to walk back to his house.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The following days, every time Sasuke bumped into Sakura, he had to endure the pain of looking like an idiot. He really needed an explanation. He walked along the bridge that Team 7 once used to meet up. He saw sakura and him as kids and how she ran up to him full of energy and life. He kept on walking till he reached the training grounds. He detected a strong chakra nearby so he hid and masked his chakra. He gestured for the ANBU to hide. When he peeked out, a kunai whizzed at him faster than he could blink. But he was an Uchiha so managed to avoid it so it wouldn't kill him but it scratched his cheek. _Who could throw a kunai so quick? _ When he believed that it was safe, he peeked out again and saw a young girl with pink hair meditating. _Sakura?! _

"I know your there Uchiha" her voice rang out even though her eyes were still closed. Sasuke's eyes widened, _how did she detect me? My chakra is masked! _ He slowly walked out.

"Hn, how did you know I was there?"

"I set up a barrier, if it is penetrated, I know. ANBU you can leave now" she said as if it was the most obvious thing.

"_Barrier?" _Sasuke thought. He observed the area. He couldn't sense the barrier. But as soon as he activated Sharingan, it was visible.

"Hn" He observed the girl. _Just how much has she changed? She can even set up a barrier that I couldn't detect until I activated Sharingan. _

"Do you need something?" asked Sakura, all this time her eyes were closed

"What are you doing? Why are you just sitting down?" asked Sasuke.

"I'm working on my Chakra control." She stated.

"Yeh right, Chakra control my-"Sasuke started the sneer. But he was interrupted as the trees around them were sliced in half. His eyes widened as he looked back the girl who was sitting meditating.

"you were saying?" asked Sakura. Now she got up and hadn't broken a sweat.

"How did you do that?"

"I shot chakra strings that were strong enough to just cut the trees in half not destroy it."

Sasuke was amazed. If he did that, he would be sweating his ass off. And here was Sakura who didn't even look a bit tired.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, you're interrupting my training." With that she walked off. Sasuke decided to follow her. As Sakura walked on, she grew more annoyed as she knew that Sasuke was following her. She stopped and walked up to a tree and kicked it...hard. The tree toppled over and Sasuke landed in front of her in surprise. Sakura's hands were on her hips.

"Just how long are you planning to follow me?"

"Hn, until I find out how strong you have grown"

"Ha, if you wanted to know then you only had to ask. Return to the training grounds" then she disappeared in a puff of smoke. He looked confused. He ran back to the training grounds and found that most of his comrades were there waiting with Sakura who had an evil glint in her eye.

"What's going?" he asked, getting suspicious.

"Well Uchiha, you said that you wanted to see how strong I am. What better way to find out than spar?" she stood there arms crossed. Sasuke was surprised. _Is she actually challenging me?_

Sasuke smirked. Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"To make this spar more interesting, let's place a deal" he said. That spiked her attention.

"If I win, you explain everything." Sakura's teeth clenched.

"If you win then you can choose what you want to do"

"Very well Uchiha, Let's begin" They both got into a battle stance. Naruto then yelled

"START!"

In a second, Sakura disappeared and appeared behind the Uchiha, he whipped around only to find that she disappeared again. This time she reappeared in front of him and punched him in the jaw. This sent him flying back. When he got back up, his Sharingan was activated. _She's strong. _Sakura was getting bored...fast. Karin who was on the side lines was cheering her heart out.

"GO SASUKE-KUN! GO BEAT THAT PINK HAIRED BRAT!"

"**Shut up Karin**" he growled. Karin did exactly that.

"What's wrong Uchiha? You can do better than that." Sakura taunted. Sasuke did a few hand seals and said **Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique. **Sakura dodged it but realized that he was manipulating it to follow her. She let out a sigh of annoyance. She jumped a far distance from it and also did a few hand seals and whispered **Dark blossom Capture **(I made this up) darkness engulfed the dragon and the jutsu was defeated. Sasuke was very shocked. _She cancelled my dragon fire! _She ran forward while doing hand seals, **five elemental seal, **Sasuke's eyes widened is shock as he heard the familiar jutsu. _Orochimaru used that jutsu! _ She was running at him at full speed. He tried to dodge it but the jutsu hit his body. He fell down and felt his chakra being blocked. He tried to sit up but couldn't. Karin ran up to him. But with a wave of Sakura's hand, she flew back.

"WHAT DO THINK YOUR-"she started to scream

"**Don't interrupt**" sakura said almost threatening. She walked up to the defeated Sasuke and punched him in the abdomen. Sasuke coughed up blood. Naruto started to run to stop Sakura but Kakashi stopped him.

"But Kakashi sensei, she's going to kill him"

"No she isn't watch" Naruto looked back at her and found that she had performed hand seals and blue flames appeared on her fingertips.

Sasuke looked up and saw her blue flame dancing on her fingertips and heard her say "I win Uchiha" He closed his eyes and thought _I'm going to die _he waited for the finishing blow and it never came. Instead he felt his chakra flowing evenly through his body. He then released that the jutsu was **five elements unseal. **He looked up at her in surprise. _Why is she healing me? _She then lifted his shirt to reveal his chocolate abs except that area was damaged as she had punched him. She did a few hand seals again and whispered **Mystic Palm technique**, Sasuke was now very surprised. She was healing the very spot that she punched him. After she finished healing him, she stood up and turned around to walk away. Sasuke stood without any difficulty.

"Wait" sakura stopped walking. "You won the spar" Sasuke admitted through clenched teeth. "Do what you want to do" he said closing his eyes

"I punched you in the gut, what more do you want?" With that she walked away. Her comrades parted for her to walk. Karin sneaked up behind her with the idea of avenging her beloved Sasuke. No one stopped her which she didn't realize to be weird as they all knew that Sakura was away of Karin. When Karin was about stab Sakura, she turned around and flicked her back with her finger. Karin staggered back and found that her forehead was bleeding. She quickly healed her herself and yelled at Sakura

"YOU ASSHOLE! HOW DARE YOU BEAT UP SASUKE FOR STARTERS AND THEN HOW DARE YOU RUIN MY BEAUTIFUL FACE?!"

"Firstly, it was spar so the aim was to beat him up and secondly, I didn't ruin your face as it was already ruined. You are hundred years too early to challenge me, Karin" Karin just stood there, with her face matching her hair and eyes. After Sakura had left, Sasuke walked up to Karin and grabbed her head. Karin's face stayed red but now of embarrassment. _HOLY! IS SASUKE-KUN ABOUT TO KISS ME? _Her face turned redder as his head came nearer. But then a sharp pain came to her forehead. It hurt even more as sakura had flicked it. She looked around and saw everyone laughing and some were trying not to laugh. She then realized what happened. Sasuke had head butted her. She looked into his eyes. Sasuke could see her eyes tearing. He started to walk away.

"Avenging me is implying that I am weak. Don't do that again." He threatened. Karin stepped back while giving a slow nod. Sasuke then continued walking away. As soon he was out of everyone's sights, he punched the nearest thing which was a tree. The tree toppled down the same time realization dawned upon him. He, Uchiha Sasuke, one of the most skilled shinobi in all the land had been defeated by a girl with pink hair.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

*KNOCK KNOCK

Sakura got up, and staggered to the door. The shinobi blushed as he looked at her attire. She was still in her pyjamas which only consisted of a long white shirt which was slightly unbuttoned which showed a little bit of her cleavage. It showed her long slender legs. (like Ririchiyo's attire in InuxBoku SS)

"Um...Hokage sama sent this." He stuttered still eyeing her. Sakura sighed in annoyance. _Men are so prevented these days. _She snatched the scroll and slammed the door shut which brought the man back to his senses. Sakura took the scroll up to her bedroom and read it. Her eyes narrowed when she read the contents. She closed the scroll, got ready and teleported to the Hokage's office. When she arrived she found Tsunade and Sasuke there.

"This better be a good mission shishou, it's my day off."

"Yes Sakura, we were just waiting for you."

"What is he doing here?"

"I have a mission for the two of you" Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other, more like glared, and then at the same time they yelled.

"I HAVE TO WORK WITH HIM?"

"I HAVE TO WORK WITH HER?" Tsunade had a very annoyed look on her face.

"Sakura, you should be glad that I am letting you on this mission and not having you do my paperwork"

"Tch"

"Sasuke, you also should be glad as I am cutting your punishment 3 weeks early"

"But Hokage-sama, why does it have to be me and her?" he asked.

"Let me explain what your mission is going to be"

Sakura walked to the back of the room and leaned on the wall, closing her eyes. Whereas, Sasuke just stood there.

"There is a problem at Sand. The Kazekage was in a fight approximately 30mins ago with an unknown attacker." Sakura looked at the time. It was currently 9am.

"What a strange time for an attack to take place, in broad daylight." She thought out loud. Tsunade coughed and continued.

"He is terribly sick. When the medics did a check-up on him, it seems that he has an inflamed stomach and he is vomiting a lot. They sent a report right away." Sakura yawned and replied

"I doubt it had to do with the attack. He probably ate something bad and now he has Gastritis. Just give him antibiotics."

"Apparently the antibiotics didn't have any affect so they repeated giving him." Sakura's head snapped up at this.

"ARE THEY CRAZY?!" Sasuke wasn't really listening to all this medical talk, jumped at her yell. "If the antibiotics have no affect then it will kill all the good bacteria in his gut." Sakura was getting serious. Sasuke coughed and said

"Then just send Sa-"he stopped as he heard a growl. Sakura was death glaring at him. Sasuke cleared his throat and continued.

"Then just send Haruno. Why do they need me?"

"They need help tracking down the attacker even if it has nothing to do with Gaara. Once Sand heard that you came back, they immediately asked for you and Sakura to be on the tracking case. This is the plan. Sakura you go and treat Gaara first whereas Sasuke, you get started on the tracking case. After Sakura has treated Gaara, she will join you. That is your mission brief and you will leave tonight. Remember that this mission is classified B. That is all you may leave." Sakura and Sasuke bowed and left. Outside they glared at each other, Sakura scoffed and walked away, but suddenly stopped and said

"Finish packing and meet me at the front gate in half an hour with your stuff."

*15 mins later

"You took your time" said Sakura. She was leaning on the Front Gate of Konoha

"I'm 15 mins early. Well, what do you want?"

"I want to leave earlier; The Kazekage's illness is worrying me. The sooner we get there the better. Let's go." Sasuke merely nodded.

**SORRY EVERYONE FOR THE SHORT CHAPTER! BUT THE NEXT ONE IS GOING TO LONG SO PLEASE WAIT FOR IT!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Sakura looked at Sasuke. Sasuke looked at Sakura.

"Well, aren't we going? Are you going to miss your dear village?" he sneered.

"Do you get sea sick?" she asked suddenly

"Huh? N-noo..."

"Oh good. Or else in a few minutes it's going to get messy." Sakura raised her arm and snapped her fingers and in an instant, they were at the front entrance to the Village of Sand. Sasuke was a bit dizzy but was more astonished by her.

"H-h-how did you do that?" he muttered. Sakura looked at him.

"Long story, we need to hurry." Sasuke nodded. They quickly made it to the Kazekage's office only to find Baki in Gaara's seat.

"Baki" acknowledged Sakura. Baki looked up and sighed in relief.

"Sakura-sama, your speed still manages to amaze me." Sasuke looked at Baki strangely. _Did I just hear right? Sakura SAMA?! When did she get such acknowledgment?! _He was returned to reality when he heard Sakura's voice.

"Where can I find Gaara?"

"Right to the problem" Sakura nodded. Baki smiled in gratitude.

"In the infirmary" Sakura nodded again and turned to leave. "Uchiha, you can sleep or do whatever you like. I don't really care. Don't get in the way." With that she left. Sasuke clenched his fists.

"Uchiha, your room will be this way."

"Wait" Baki turned around.

"Give me all the clues or information you have on this case." Baki looked surprised.

"Y-yes of course" He reached for a file on the desk and handed it on him. Sasuke took and asked him

"So where is my room?"

*With Sakura

Sakura walked into the infirmary and the head medic came up to her.

"Please help the Kazekage!" she pleaded

"I need everyone's cooperation so please make me in charge." The head medic nodded in understanding. Sakura looked up at the medics treating Gaara. Her eyes then narrowed when she saw a medic holding an antibiotic injection and was about to give It to Gaara. Gaara looked like he had a date with death. He had lost a huge amount of weight. In an instant, Sakura was next to the medic and had snatched the injection and flung it away.

"Hey what do you think you're doing?!" yelled the medic

"I'm stopping you from ruining your Kazekage's body"

"What?! Who do you think-"

"The woman in charge, my name is Sakura Haruno, perhaps you've heard of me." All the medics started at her. They have all heard of the Sakura Haruno. She was one the greatest medics and ninjas that are found in the Land of Fire. She was trained by the great Godaime herself and has said to have surpassed her a few years ago.

"From now on you will do what I say or you will be a risk of making his condition worse. Is that understood?"

"Hai" they all answered.

"S-S-Sakura...is t-t-that y-you-u?" Everyone turned to Gaara who spoke or more like choked out. Sakura looked at him with kinder eyes. She knew that talking hurt for him so she hushed him.

"Don't speak. Tell me where it hurts." Gaara looked at her with relief. He gestured to his throat, hands, feet and his abdomen. Sakura narrowed her eyes. She reached out for a spare clipboard with some paper and wrote down something. The medics looked at her list. It said

_Burning oesophageal pain_

_Burning pains in the hands and feet_

_Cramps_

The medics looked at the list and then her. Just from a few gestures, she managed to make those observations.

She gestured for some more paper and gave it to him. He looked at her, confused.

"Communication" was all that she said. The medic before swallowed his courage and asked

"He has Gastritis doesn't he, why did you knock the vaccination out of my hands." Sakura looked at him as if he was complete idiot.

"If he did have Gastritis then the antibiotics would have taken affect the FIRST time you gave it to him. But it didn't, since you gave it to him, it would have killed the bacteria in the gut. I mean the good bacteria. Gaara-san when was the last time you took a dump?" Gaara looked at her in embarrassment. Even if he looked like death you could clearly the light blush that appeared on his cheeks. The medic stared at her.

"Y-y-you, how dare you act so disrespectful towards the Kazekage?!"

"This is all part of my questioning. Please tell me Gaara, write on the paper and only show me if you are embarrassed." Gaara quickly scribbled something down and showed her. It read _Yesterday_. Sakura let out a sigh of relief. But her brain was trying to piece everything together. Her brain then thought of something which frightened her.

"When was his fight?" They all looked at her with surprise.

"I've forgotten ok?!" she said with a bit of harshness in her voice.

"Um...it was 8.30am this morning. We sent a report straight after we retrieved him back." Sakura clenched her fists.

"Schedule an examination in a few hours. I need rest so I can concentrate."

"Um... we can schedule it tomorrow morning if it you want so you can rest." Suggested a medic

"No" she growled, she blinked and calmed herself, "Sorry, but no time isn't on our side, we need to examine him as soon as possible."

"We have examined him, he has an inflamed stomach" Sakura glared at the medic which silenced him.

"Please set up the MRI for an examination for the kidneys. That will be all" and then she disappeared. All the medics looked at each other, thinking of whether to follow her orders. The head medic looked at them all and yelled.

"Well, get cracking!"

When all that was happening, Sasuke was in his room looking through the files that Baki had given him. In the file were a piece of cloth and some documents of surrounding witnesses. Sasuke smirked. _This is going to be a piece of cake_ he thought. _I'll show you Sakura, I am not weak. You are the one weak. _Thinking that he had no worries, he went to bed. Sakura's room was right next to him. When he heard her door open, he went out and knocked on her door. Sakura opened it and found Sasuke there. She sighed and walked back into the room, leaving the door open. Sasuke just stood there. After a few minutes of standing, Sakura spoke.

"Do you plan to stand there for the whole time?" Sasuke blinked and entered the room, closing the door behind him. He then clearly saw what she was wearing. She was wearing her pjs (mentioned in Chapter 6) Sasuke tried not to blush but it obviously didn't work as Sakura was looking at him unimpressed.

"So what did you find out of the evidence?"

"What? How did you find out?"

"Baki told me"

"Are you talking to me again?" he sneered. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"I only wanted information on the mission that we were assigned. Even if I hate your guts like hell, you are still my mission partner. So let's try and work together until we return to Konoha" Sasuke was taken back at how professional she was.

"Ah...ok" Sasuke muttered. "It's going to be a piece of cake. A piece of cloth was retrieved. By the way...how was Gaara?" Sakura's eyes narrowed at this. She moved her chair next to her bed and motioned for him to sit on it. He did and then sakura sat on her bed with the blankets covering her legs.

"His condition was terrible. He has lost a lot of weight." She said. Then Sakura started mumbling "He had burning oesophageal pain, burning pains in the hands and feet and cramps...but why...why...why..." Sasuke blinked as he didn't catch it.

"Do you have a theory?" Sakura's head snapped up. Her eyes were clouded with what seemed like worry.

"Yes but I need more evidence. Sorry Sasuke I need you to leave. I need some rest before my scheduled examination with Gaara which is in 2 hours." She slipped under the covers and said, "Please close the light and door when you're on your way out." Sasuke smirked at her actions. He got up and did exactly that. It was only after he returned to his room he released something

_...She called me Sasuke..._

**Ok a word to all the readers. PLEASE CUT ME SOME SLACK IF I UPDATE LATE! Cuz this mission is completely thought up by me. It's a brand new mission. So the technology is modern but it's still the ninja world... Do you guys get it? SO EVEN IF I UPDATE LATE PLEASEW KEEP ON READING!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"BBBRRRRIIIIINNNNGGG

Sakura immediately sat up. Her alarm clock had gone off. In a flash, she was dressed and out the door. It was time for Gaara's examination. Sakura literally ran to the infirmary, when she arrived she was relieved that all her equipment was set up. They went into MRI room. When she was all set, Gaara was scanned.

"I will now conduct an examination on the kidneys."

"Hai" And then the examination began.

*With Sasuke

It was afternoon and Sasuke was gotten bored of his room and when he was about to leave the room, Baki entered the room and said

"I'm sorry to bother you but the tracking team is assembling to start finding the attacker" Sasuke nodded and following him to a room. When they were walking to the room, they went past the infirmary.

All the trackers got in a circle for a discussion.

"Uchiha, Baki gave you the information and clues right?"

"Right. There is a piece of cloth in here which I presume is the enemies. Trackers just follow the scent." Sasuke smirked. _This is going to be easy..._

When all the trackers had caught the scent, they went off. It was about 2pm when they left. When the sky turned dark, they decided to camp for the night. Sasuke was lying in his tent when he realised something. _These attackers must be powerful to attack the one-tailed. Then they should have known better than to leave evidence behind..._ But Sasuke shook it aside. He was just looking for problem in a perfect plan. He turned over and went to bed.

While Sasuke was tracking, Sakura was doing the examination on Gaara's kidneys. Sakura had checked if the antibiotics had been flushed out by the kidneys. Luckily she found the kidneys working fine. It was about 3 hours after the check-up. Gaara was currently resting. Sakura went to report to Baki in the Kazekage's office.

"Well?! How did it go?"

"His kidneys are working fine. The antibiotics have been successfully flushed out of his bodies."

"Eh...you had an exanimation to see if the antibiotics were out of his body?"

"Hai"

"WHY?! THAT PROVES NOTHING!"

"It tells us that he will now be able to take a dump."

"W-what?"

"If antibiotics is given to a perfectly healthy body, or there is no bad bacteria that needs killings off, the antibiotics will travel down to the gut and kill the bacteria in the intestines, meaning that he wouldn't have been able to go to the bathroom to do Number 2" Baki grimaced at her medical fact. Sakura's face then darkened.

"So we've come to a conclusion that Gaara doesn't have Gastritis...But then what does he have?"

"Do you have any ideas?" Baki asked, feeling a bit panicky. Sakura lowered her head

"I have a theory but that would contradict the kidney examination...Unless it hasn't reacted yet..." sakura started, mumbling to herself again. Baki stared at her. Sakura then looked up with her eyes filled with worry.

"I need more evidence. Please excuse myself for tonight"

"Y-yes of course, Sakura-sama" Sakura excused herself and stumbled into her room. She didn't even bother changing; she just flopped onto the bed. Darkness and relaxation swept over her.

*With Sasuke

*chirp

Sasuke woke up to the chirping of birds. He groggily sat up and went outside. No one else was awake. He made himself a cup of hot water. He was thinking about the case

_I have a bad feeling about this mission...it's easy though...Sakura...wait...WHAT? _ Sasuke had just surprised himself.

_When did she come in the picture?_

**Sasuke and Sakura sitting in the tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G**

_SHUT IT! Wait who are you? _

**You have no manners. Telling someone you don't know to shut it. I am you by the way**

_ME? No that's impossible. I'm me_

**-_- wow...**

"Sasuke...Sasuke!" He was shaken back to reality when he heard Kankuro calling his name, "We're leaving"

"Hn" They started following the scent again. The scent led them to forests that were outside Sand. The forest entrance looked dark and intimidating. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and said

"Let's go"

*With Sakura

Sakura woke up, with her brain in a jumble. She needed to sort out her mind if she was going to think hard today. She summoned her training poles and created a pentagon around her. She got in a mediating position and focused her chakra. Her chakra strings lashed out and with her controlled chakra and sliced all of them in half at once. She was so focused that she didn't see that Baki had entered her room after knocking numerous times without an answer. He was staring at her with his mouth open. Sakura opened her eyes and stood up. With a snap of her fingers, the poles were gone.

"Baki, what's wrong?"

"Sakura-sama, quickly its Gaara..." he seemed out of breathe. Sakura narrowed her eyes and ran to the infirmary. She slammed the door open and found a load of medics attending Gaara. She pushed them out of the way and looked at Gaara's monitor. Sakura's eyes widened. _His heart rate is dropping incredibly quickly!_

"Quick! Hand me a shot of atropine!" She slowly injected the fluid into Gaara's blood stream. She checked his heart monitor again and was relieved to find that his heart rate had returned back to normal. Baki and the other medics were praying thanks to the gods that they saved Gaara but Sakura wasn't celebrating. While they were fussing over Gaara, she had also made a note of his condition. _His hair is starting to fall. There is a fair amount of hair on his pillow, his skin is starting to swell and his weight has dropped again..._ all these were symptoms of THAT. She didn't like the chances of his illness being THAT. She still needed more evidence.

*With Sasuke

Sasuke and the other trackers had started following the scent in the forest. He jumped from tree to tree when he suddenly looked at one and said

_That looked like a tree we passed before, it has that white mark on it... no way I must be seeing thing..._ he shook his head and continued. Since he wasn't paying attention, this shirt got caught in a branch and when he pulled free, a piece of his shirt ripped off.

*With someone (you'll probably guess though)

"Heh...Heh... soon all will be mine... Kabuto...is everything set?"

"Yes sir, if Sasuke and his pathetic comrades don't leave the Forest of enclosure in three days, they will spend the rest of their lives in there and since there is no food or water, when Sasuke has run out of energy we will kidnap him. ... "

"What about the one tailed?"

"There's no one that can save him now"

"Good... heheheh"

*With Sakura

_If it really is that, then he doesn't have long to live. _Sakura was currently in her room sitting at her desk with her head in her hands. _His heart has already shown signs of failure._ Her thoughts were interrupted as Baki entered her room.

"Sakura sama, the medics have informed me that Gaara's heart is starting to fail... is this true?" Sakura didn't move at all except for lifting her head so that it now leaned on her hands.

"You don't even trust your medics now?"

"N-no... it's just I don't want to believe it." Sakura closed her eyes again and sighed

"Yes, it is true" Sakura turned to face him and told him what she had in mind.

**I ALSO WILL BE UPDATING LATER AS I HAVE A FREAKING AMUS EXAM IN TWO MONTHS AND I DUNNO ANYTHING! I HAVE TO PRACTISE AND MEMORISE SO PLEASE I'LL AT LEAST UPDATE ONCE A WEEK! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Sasuke and the tracking team had stopped for a while to catch their breath. They had been travelling for about two days now and they didn't seem to be getting anyway. Sasuke was now somehow thinking that something was wrong... _We've been travelling for two days... why aren't we getting anywhere? _But they were following the scent of the fabric. _Something's wrong..._

*with Sakura

Baki anticipated for the worst. Sakura leaned back in her chair and told him.

"Gaara is getting worse every moment."

"Do you even know what he's got" Sakura's eyes darkened.

"I have a theory."

"What is it? Please tell me!"

"There is a chance that he might have arsenic poisoning." Baki looked confused. Sakura continued explaining. "Arsenic poisoning is a very classic and common way of murder. It is a white powder that is toxic to the body. The symptoms are that the patient loses hair and weight. The poison also damages your kidneys and liver." Baki looked at Sakura with wide eyes.

"That's why you conducted a kidney examination." Baki said, now understanding. Sakura just nodded.

"In the MRI, his kidneys have not failed yet, when his heart was failing, his pillow was covered in loose hair. He has lost a considerable amount of weight. These are all symptoms of arsenic poisoning." Baki stumbled back and then asked

"Is there any hope that he can be cured?"

"The question isn't if he can be cured, it is if he actually has arsenic poisoning because if he does then he only has two days max to live."

"Then what are you waiting for!? Hurry and do something! Do another MRI or something and treat him." Sakura could tell that he was getting pissed.

"I would love to do another MRI but since MRI involves using radiation on the body, I am afraid that it will damage Gaara's body even more. I was going to ask you if you are prepared to take the risk."

"We just want to find out what is wrong with our leader. So yes, I am willing to risk it. Please do another MRI on his kidneys." Sakura nodded and then walked out of the room. She went to the infirmary where she saw that Gaara was sleeping. The medics looked at her as she pushed him into the MRI room, a few followed her. She then commenced an examination on his kidneys again.

*During the examination

Sakura was in the middle of the examination when she found something that frightened her.

"Oh...my...GOD" she whispered loudly. The medics looked at her.

"Sakura sama, Gaara's heart is starting to fail again." Sakura looked at him if he was a blob.

"WELL WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! QUICKLY GET HIM OUT OF THERE!" In an instant the medics came to life and quickly got Gaara out of the MRI and injected him with a dose of atropine. When his heart was stable again, she reeled him back into the infirmary. Baki and the rest of the medics were waiting there. As Sakura pushed Gaara back in, Baki rushed up to her.

"Well, did you find anything?" Sakura held up her hand as to say _we will talk later_. Baki nodded and went back to his office. Sakura went and asked medics to take her to the injection room where you prepare injections. She came back with an injection which has her healing powers around it. Baki smiled in relief.

"You found the cure!"

"No, this to my final confirmation of my theory" she injected it in Gaara and sat down next to him.

Baki and the medics looked at her as if she was crazy.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! IF YOUR WRONG THEN GAARA COULD DIE" Sakura looked at all of them and sighed.

*With Sasuke

"Oi Uchiha, are you sure you gave us the right clue. We've been travelling for days" asked Kankuro.

"For the last time yes, Baki gave it me himself" replied Sasuke. He was getting angry at Kankuro asking him the same question. The group stopped to rest. They saw a figure jump over the trees. Kankuro called out.

"OI!" the figure didn't seem to hear, so Kankuro tried again in a VERY loud voice. The figure just ran over them. Sasuke looked at Kankuro in confusion, the figure was most likely a ninja and since ninjas have good hearing, they should have 110 percent heard Kankuro's voice. Something in Sasuke's stomach stirred.

"I have a feeling that something is wrong..." said Sasuke.

"Yeh me too" agreed Kankuro, "but our only option is to continue following his trace."

*Back with Sakura

"The injection that I just gave him was a potassium supplement. If he does THAT, then the potassium should keep the heart stable." The medics looked at each other.

"What do you think he has?" Sakura leaned back in the chair.

"It's time you all knew. I think that Gaara may have been a victim to arsenic poisoning." The medics gasped.

"B-but that's not possible. It would have shown up on the MRI scan..."

"Have you forgotten? Arsenic poisoning only shows that the patient has an inflamed stomach on the MRI scan." The medics muttered to themselves. One medic who didn't like the idea of being outsmarted by a girl said

"If he really does have arsenic poisoning, then that would contradict your kidney examination."

"Yes it would contradict my FIRST examination"

"What do you mean first?"

"We just did another one and look at the results." Sakura held up the scan and the medic's eyes widened, Gaara's kidneys were indeed failing. Sakura smirked

"I believe I've made my point, and to prove it, look at Gaara's heart monitor." The medic looked at it, so did everyone else and found that Gaara's heart was in stable condition.

"The potassium worked..." muttered Baki. Sakura got up and went to the injection room again. She came back with yet another injection.

"I know can say for sure that Gaara is a victim of arsenic poisoning and now I am going to give him the required treatment, a dose of Dimercaprol." The medics started clapping. Some cried tears of relief that they had finally discovered what was wrong with their leader.

"We only have to wait until tomorrow to see the effects." The medics and the defeated medic nodded and walked out leaving Baki and Sakura.

"Sakura Sama, I don't know how to thank you" said Baki. Sakura stood up and showed a rare smile.

"Gaara is one my close comrades. As Hatake-san once said _in the world of ninja, those who don't follow the rules are scum but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum._" Baki smiled and said

"Yes" Then Sakura froze. Baki frowned "What's wrong?" Sakura slowly turned to face him.

"If Gaara was poisoned then it had nothing to do with his fight..."

"The attacking could have shot poison darts at him."

_"But arsenic poison is only delivered through your mouth and in contaminated water." _Baki's eyes widened. Sakura rushed out of the infirmary. She went into Sasuke's room and started sniffing his belongings.

"What are you doing?" Baki asked

"If the attacker had nothing to do with it then Sasuke and the rest are on a wild goose hunt." Baki's widened.

"I'm going to go after them" said Sakura and left.

*With Sasuke

"U...chi...ha, we are out of f...food, everyone is s...starving" gasped Kankuro. They had run out of supplies a day ago and they were scavenging for anything edible but the forest seemed to be bare.

"I know" replied Sasuke. He was also very thirsty and hungry but he had to think of a way to get out the forest. The group had decided to leave the forest but they couldn't seem to find the way out. Sasuke was also losing a lot of energy. _Please let us find a way out. _

Sakura followed Sasuke's scent with Baki right behind her. She followed and followed until his scent was suddenly cut off. Sakura stopped and looked at the sight in front of her. Baki followed her eyes and frowned.

"Sakura sama, what are you looking at?" Sakura looked at him and looked back. It was true; there was nothing but barren land in front of them. A few trees but that was it. Sakura wasn't making a sound and Baki didn't dare disturb the silence but she was actually having a conversation with her Inner.

_Oi I need your help._

**SAKU-CAHN! IT'S BEEN AGES! Why do you need my help?**

_Yeh whatever, Uchiha's scent is cut off. _

**You know I can't tell you the answer from the future**

_Just give me a hint please_

**I'm doing this because I love you and because it's SASU-CHAN! **

_JUST TELL ME!_

**OK geez. A blanket... well I'm off till next time. **

Inner disappeared and Sakura returned to reality.

"Sakura sama, what are you going to do? You've been standing there for quite some time." Sakura paid no attention to Baki but instead thought about the clue._ A blanket...a blanket...HOW IS THAT SUPPOSE TO EB A CLUE?!_ Sakura realised that it was getting dark and sighed out of annoyance. Sakura looked at plane once more before turning her back and started to walk away.

"S-sakura sama? Where are you going?" But before Sakura could take the first step, something caught her eye. The wind was building and the atmosphere...shifted? Sakura's eyes widened. _It seemed like something is covering it...blanket..._Sakura gasped as she realized what Inner had meant. She drew out one of her katana's and stabbed it into the ground. She turned to Baki and said

"You're going to need that" Baki just nodded. She closed her eyes and her hands went into a prayer position. Baki looked at her and his mouth widened; Sakura was glowing gold and was being lifted into the air. She suddenly stopped and muttered a jutsu; **Dark blossom, whispering wind. **She then opened her palms and blew, that created a very strong wind force the same force as a tornado to appear. Baki grabbed onto the katana and held on for dear life. Sakura opened her eyes and saw something that surprised her. Something like a huge invisible blanket lifted and blew away. The wind stopped and sakura descended back to the ground. Baki opened his eyes to find a forest in front of him.

"W-wha...H-ho...EHH!?" he stuttered. Sakura eyes' widened. _I only know one person who could create an invisible blanket of this size..._

Baki looked at her. "What are we going to do now?" She gave him a packet of what looked like pills.

"I'm going to find Sasuke and the group. Once I come back, help me give them the pills. Understood?"

"H-Hai" She did a couple more hand seals and whispered **Dark Blossom, Rising Flame. **A flame like cloud appeared and she stepped on it. The cloud then flew over the forest. Sakura looked for a group of people.

Sasuke and the group were on the verge of suiciding. They still couldn't find a way out of the forest. Famished and parched, they collapsed, Sasuke looked up at the darkening sky and was about to close his eyes when he saw a cloud out of flames flying over and with his very good eyesight, he saw the rider had pink hair due to the light from the cloud.

"S-s-Sakura..."

Sakura looked directly below her and saw out a group of people. She flew down and landed, worried.

"Is this everyone?" she looked around and found Sasuke. He was in really bad shape. His face looked like he hadn't slept for a while and he had lost a lot of weight. She rushed to his side. He could barely move. His eyes slowly moved to the beautiful face that was now above him looking at him with worry.

"S-s-sakura..."

"I'm here, Sasuke." She quickly summoned 20 water bottles and everyone grabbed for one. They gulped it down with such speed that some choked. Sasuke seemed to be the worst out of them. Sakura gave one to Sasuke but found that he couldn't move his body, out of extreme fatigue. She tried feeding him the drink but that didn't work either. She scoffed out of annoyance. She stood up and went to the rest of the tracking group. She did a few hand seals and said **Dark blossom, rising flame. **A flame cloud appeared that could fit everyone on it. She then directed the cloud back to Baki, leaving Sasuke and her alone. _Good, now there's no one to see. He can't drink by himself, I have no other choice. _She filled her mouth with water and leaned down...

Sasuke was about to lose consciousness. His vision was going blurry. _Is this how I'm going to die? I thought Sakura was there... _His eyes were closing but then they stopped when his lips touch something warm and soft. Liquid followed into his mouth, when he swallowed the water, his throat was slowly getting better. He felt the same warmth and softness again and again...and again. But now his eye sight was getting better and he saw something which made him blush. In front of him was Sakura...SHE WAS KISSING HIM! When she removed her lips from his, he sat up and his face turned a light pink.

"W-w-what are you d-d-doing?" Sakura looked back at him.

"Yo, you can finally move?" Sasuke looked at her and wondered how she could be so calm considering what just happened.

"You just..." Sakura's face turned a slight pink and turned away.

"T-that wasn't a kiss... you couldn't drink by yourself... I-I had no choice..." she stuttered out. She looked back and their eyes locked. They both turned a darker pink and looked away.

*Grumble...

Sakura looked at Sasuke who looked away. She gasped.

"I still need to give you your medication" She threw him a pill which he caught and swallowed it. His stomach somehow felt...full? Sakura helped him up and teleported back to where everyone else was. They all seemed to be better after the pills and the water. They looked at them.

"What took you guys so long?" Sasuke turned a little pink.

"Uhh" Sakura let of Sasuke who stumbled a bit and then steadied himself with the help of some of the other ninjas.

"Nothing, Sasuke's condition was worse than all of yours, I had to fix him up bit." She said with scorn. Sasuke glared at her, _that's not what I thought, happened... _Sasuke was about to speak to her when she walked away but as she passed him, he didn't miss the slight pink on her cheeks. She walked away and the rest followed. Sasuke decided to let it go.

_I know your still in there Sakura..._


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**I noticed that the reviews have stopped! ='( please continue to review or I'll lose the urge to continue writing! I am so sorry about the super late update. I've been having problems with my family and I dunno when I have the time to write so please still follow!**

*BAM

The door slammed open as Sakura, Sasuke and the group of trackers entered the Kazekage's office. Gaara had recovered well enough to become Kazekage again. But he still had hundred thousand medics fuss over him. He swatted them away with one hand and was presented with a handful of tired ninjas. Sakura went up and slumped onto the chair. Sasuke looked surprised, it was bad manners to act that way in front of the Kazekage and for a person that Sakura changed into, he would she knew better. But what surprised him the most was when Gaara sent the soldiers back leaving Baki, Sakura and himself and Gaara went over and gave a glass of water to Sakura and patted her back. Something inside Sasuke sparked as he saw Gaara act so familiar with Sakura. He felt... possessive and...jealous? Sasuke shook those thought out of his head.

"I see you've gotten closer during the time I left"

"Still stingy are we Sasuke?" Gaara smirked at the Uchiha's obvious possessiveness.

"Tch" Sasuke looked away, for some unknown reason annoyed. Gaara turned back to Sakura.

"Sakura-chan, are you ok now?" Sakura didn't reply. Gaara tapped her shoulder but he didn't get any response. He shook her and her head rolled back. Gaara's eyes widened but then he gave a rare smile. Sakura Haruno had fallen asleep. Sasuke looked at her angelic face. When she was sleeping, he saw the old Sakura, the innocent happy girl he once knew, not the cold, stone person that now stood as her.

"Should I take her back to her room?" Baki asked. Sasuke was about to do exactly that, until he asked. He inwardly cursed the man. Gaara saw his reaction and smirked.

"No Baki, let the Uchiha take him back, I need you to remain with me." Sasuke's head snapped up and looked at Gaara, surprised. His surprised look slowly turned to a scowl when he saw Gaara's face. He knew what he was telling him. Gaara's face was telling him _Take her back, I know you want to... _Sasuke went up to sakura and carried her bridal style and left the room.

"Gaara Sama, what do you need me for?"

"Nothing... the Uchiha wanted to spend some time with her... that's all. Baki, you may return to your quarters" Gaara said and walked slowly to his room. Baki bowed and left as well.

As Sasuke was carrying Sakura back to her room, he realised that sakura felt so right in his arms. He was still staring at her when he reached her room and laid her down on her bed. He was about to leave when he heard Sakura talk in her sleep.

"Sa...su...ke" Sasuke stopped in his tracks and his heart was pounding. _She's dreaming about ME!? _ He was unconsciously feeling very happy until he saw a tear run down cheek. Then he heard

"D-don't le...ave me... "Immediately, his happiness disappeared. He knew what she was dreaming about; the night that he left. He sat next to her on the bed as guilt overtook him. Sakura continued talking

"I lo...love you... don't leave..." Sasuke's heart (yes he has one) was being crushed under guilt.

"I loved you... why did you have to leave?" Sakura tossed and turned.

"I loved you...and I always will..." Sasuke's eyes widened and his head snapped up to her sleeping face. His heart started pounding again. _She still loves me... _Sasuke wiped her tears away and kissed her forehead. He went to leave and as he was about to shut the door, he said

"I'm sorry for breaking you. I will definitely bring you back... my blossom" and he left. Sakura smiled in her sleep. When Sasuke retired to his own bed, he realized what he had just done and his face turned into the colour of his favourite fruit (I think tomato is a fruit). He buried his head in his pillow and let darkness overcome him.

Sakura on the other hand, was not having such a good night. She was dreaming about the night that Sasuke left and what happened after woods.

*Flash back

_"Sasuke-kun! Don't leave me!"_

_"..."_

_"I love you..."_

_"Thank you" Sakura was knocked out. The next day she woke up, she remembered happened the night before. She dropped to her knees._

_"H-he...re-ally...l-l-left..." she started bawling her eyes out. When her emotions were now emptied, her eyes turned from the once vivid emerald to a dull green. She slouched home and locked herself in her room. A few days, went by and she hadn't eaten anything, she reached for the kunai in her pouch her hand was shaking as she held the kunai over her wrist. She then sliced herself with one smooth motion. The red oozed out and she started laughing, her eyes were those of a maniac. After 3 days had passed, something inside of her snapped. She was weak...she was useless. _

_"I have to do something about this." She changed her outfit, her hairstyle and her personality. She the dark Sakura. The sakura that had been corrupted with depression. She returned to society and shunned everyone out. She trained...and trained...and trained until no shinobi in the village was a match for her. She left for Suna to train with the Kazekage but it turned out that he wasn't much of a challenge either, so she ended up training with herself. The next few months were like this but what the village didn't know about this girl was that she released her emotions at night. When she got home, she would start crying and saying over and over again. _

_"I love you Sasuke, I never stopped... why don't you just come back with Naruto?!" _

_She also took this opportunity to sneak into the Uchiha mansion to fix up the placed that once housed the one she loved. The next month came and the villages were gossiping about something knew. Sakura's ears were open and she heard things about the Haruno clan and the Uchiha clan. Her curiosity was too big so she snuck into the Hokage's office and 'borrowed' the criminal records. She found out that Itachi had murdered her parents. Her anger increased over the year for Itachi. She would constantly leave the village to search for Itachi with the intention of killing him. _

_It was a day like other days, she was about to go and look for Itachi again. When she left her mansion, one villager said something that made her blood stop. _

_"Who was that Uchiha boy that use to live here? Sasuke was it? Apparently he killed his brother or something..." Sakura teleported to the Hokage's office and slammed her hands on the table. _

_"Did the Uchiha brat really kill my target?!" Tsunade sighed, stood up and looked at the view. _

_"Yes" Sakura's eyes widened and darkened. She then whispered_

_"Unforgivable..." she walked out and slammed the door. Her hatred for Itachi spread to Sasuke. But for some reason, she still felt that she had to clean his house. She cursed herself for her weakness. It was becoming a habit. _

_*End of flashback_

Sakura sat up suddenly, breathing heavily. She looked around. _Why am I in my room? I thought I fell asleep in Gaara's office... someone took me back. _She felt something moist on her cheek. She sighed _That dream again... _Then she felt her forehead and it felt slightly moist. She frowned. _Why does my forehead feel moist? Water... no way the roofs here don't' leak. The worst would be that someone... _She blushed as the thought of someone kissing her forehead came to mind. But then shook her mind clear. _No way would that happen. _But then she sensed that Sasuke had been in this room. She blushed. _Did he take me back? _ Her mind was in a mess so she decided to sleep again and worry about this in the morning.

*The next day

Sakura woke up and got dressed.

Sasuke woke up and got dressed. When he walked out it looked and saw that Sakura had walked out at the exactly same time. He's face turned a little pink as he remembered what had happened the previous night. He quickly turned and walked towards the Kazekage's office.

Sakura looked to her side and found that Sasuke had come out of his room. She was staring at him when she suddenly saw the slight pink on his cheeks. She looked at him, wondering what was wrong as he turned around and waked towards Gaara's office. She followed him.

*In Gaara's office

Sasuke stood with his hands in his pockets; Sakura leaned against the wall with her eyes closed. Gaara was sitting at his desk looking at them both broke the silence.

"Sakura, explain the situation" Sakura spoke without opening her eyes.

"You were poisoned with arsenic. This poison is delivered through the mouth in contaminated water. The attack that you encountered had nothing to do it. But the trail that Sasuke followed led him into the Forest of No ends."

"What's that?"

"I was surprised that it exists here in Suna. There are only a few forests like these in the world. They trap you and never let you out. These forests were created by a single man called Hanachi Akuhei. He controls the forests and only he knows the way out from ground. If ninjas see you from above, you can be saved." Sasuke looked surprised and Gaara even more so.

"We felt a strong wind yesterday. Were you the cause?" asked Sasuke.

"When Baki and I arrived at the opening of the forest, there was nothing but barren land."

"But there was a forest..." started Kankuro. Sakura held up her hand to silence him.

"The wind you felt was me. I create a wind with the force of a tornado and it blew the invisible blanket off."

"Invisible blanket?" Kankuro was confused

"An invisible blanket is a summoning jutsu and only some can perform. I can, but I can only summon one that can cover a human. I only know one person who could summon a cover that big." She narrowed her eyes. The men all looked at her.

"Who?"

She closed her eyes and said

"_Orochimaru" _


	11. Chapter 11

**SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! LONG STORY SHORT. PIANO EXAM, 1 MONTH, MUM BANNED ME. END OF STORY! I'm like secretly typing :P review please! I FINISHED A CHAPTER IN ONE NIGHT! PLEASE REVIEW! THIS WAS THE LONGEST CHAPTER I HAVE EVER WRITTEN! **

**Chapter 11**

The men all looked at her in surprise and shock.

"Orochimaru? But isn't he dead?" asked Kankuro. "Sasuke killed him... right?" Sasuke nodded.

"Well apparently not as he is the only one I can think of that could make an invisible blanket that big is Orochimaru." Gaara leaned back in his seat, thinking about which action to take.

"Sakura, do you know where we can find Orochimaru?"

"How should I know where to find him?" She mumbled, looking away. Baki looked at her.

"Didn't you tell Gaara a few months ago about how you discovered that Orochimaru killed..." Sakura silenced him with a glare. He stopped in his tracks. Sasuke looked between the two people. _Orochimaru is killed who? _

"Anyway, I don't know where to find that creep. I'm going" With that she walked out and slammed the door. Sasuke turned back and looked at the other two men in confusion.

"What's her problem?"

"She's had it tough, let's just say that much." Sasuke had given up. He officially knew nothing about Sakura. Sakura still acted like she didn't trust Sasuke. What happened to the innocent annoying fan girl who pestered him all day?

**SHE DIED**

_Very funny, I don't have time for you_

**I'M SERIOUS, SHE LITERALLY DIED**

_You don't honestly expect me to believe you_

**SHE DID SOMETHING TO HER INNER**

_What did she do?_

**I'M NOT SURE BUT NOW HER INNER HAS TREMENDOUS POWER! IF A INNER GAINS MORE POWER THAN THE HOLDER THEN IT STARTS TO TAKE OVER THE HOLDERS SOUL! **

_How is this related to me gaining her trust?_

**THE POWER TO KEEP THE INNER AT BAY IS EMOTIONS. RIGHT NOW ALL SAKURA HAS IS POWER WHICH IS ONLY JUST STRONG ENOUGH TO KEEP THE INNER AT BAY. LOVE, TRUST AND BONDS, ONCE SHE HAS THESE KEEPING THE INNER AT BAY WOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM**

_How come you know this?_

**ONE, I AM A INNER AND TWO, EVEN IF I AM YOU INNER I'M STILL YOU WHICH MEANS I'M SMART TOO. **

_Oh.__.. WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS SOONER!?_

**YOU DIDN'T ASK.**

_ARGHH! _

While Sasuke was fighting with his inner, he didn't realise that he had reached Sakura's room. He paused for a minute and was about to go but he heard a weird sound. It was like something going into wood and then footsteps. This repeated over and over again. He opened Sakura's door and because he is an Uchiha and he has fast reflexes, he narrowly dodged a whizzing kunai. Sakura was lying against the post of her bed and she didn't move a muscle

"Have you lost your manners too Uchiha?" Sasuke realised he has forgotten to knock.

"Hn, sorry" He questioned himself _When does a Uchiha ever apologize? _Sakura was equally as confused, Sasuke never apologizes...ever. She shook if off. Sasuke looked at her door which had many holes in it. On it was a picture of Orochimaru and several kunais sticking out of it. Sasuke took it off and looked at it. _Not a bad picture of him... _

"Why are you throw-"Sasuke was interrupted when the picture was snatched out of his hands. Sakura scrunched it up and threw it in the bin.

"It's none of your business" She sat back at her desk quite roughly which caused something to knock down on her desk, she quickly sat the picture frame right up. Sasuke leaned a bit closer to see the picture which he realised seemed to be the only ornament in her room. He expected to see the old Team 7 photo, the one which she valued so much but to his shock, it wasn't... He nearly fell over from the surprise. It was a picture of Sakura who smiled a little bit and man who had his arms slung over her shoulder. Sasuke could depict a slight blush in her cheeks. Something inside of Sasuke boiled, from the picture it looked as if Sakura and the man were quite close. He didn't like it.

"I'm surprised" he said. Without turning around, she asked

"About?"

"The picture frame" Sakura stiffened at this.

"What about it?" her voice was barely a whisper but Sasuke paid no attention.

"I would have thought that you would have the Team 7 picture because I was in there" Sakura got up swiftly and slapped him across the cheek...hard. Sasuke stood there shocked, no girl has ever and I mean EVER slapped him before, but as they say, there's always a first. Sakura looked up into his eyes, her eyes were filled with a dark and dangerous glint.

"Don't get cocky..." Sakura whispered.

"That hurt Haruno"

"Why?" Sakura looked down, "Why did you provoke me like that?" Sasuke's eyes widened a bit. _So she realised... _

"Ok the real reason is because I want to know who that guy in the picture is, I'm not surprised that you don't have my picture but not even Naruto?" Sakura's eyes were kept covered.

"Naruto doesn't have time for me anymore, he and Hinata got together after you left. Sai trains with Kakashi most of the time. I grew distant from them and they think it's my fault?! Well they can just kiss my ass. They were the ones who pushed me away and I didn't complain." Sasuke stared at her little speech. He didn't think that Naruto would do that.

"And there's you Sasuke. Why do you want to know who that man is anyway? You never cared about me or my life before so why care now? Please keep on minding your own business. It has been heaven without your nosy nose butting into other people's business" Sakura said quite harshly. She even surprised herself; she was angry and unconsciously took it out on Sasuke.

"Fine, I'll stop 'caring'. Just so you know, I never have and never will care about you; I take back what I thought. You haven't grown stronger at all; you are still that weak girl from the past. Don't worry, I won't care about you anymore. I'll let you keep your peace. Even if you beg for my care, I won't disturb your peace" he sneered. With that he stormed out and slammed the door shut up.

Sakura's arms lay limply at her sides as she smiled weakly. _So he thinks I'm still weak huh? Thought so... I failed again...why do I always push people away? Am I really that afraid of getting hurt again after what happened to Kenji? _She sat down at her desk again and looked at the picture frame. She touched the man's face. _Kenji... _Then everything went black

*Flash black/dream

_"I must become stronger, I must become stronger" A pink haired girl was training like there was no tomorrow. She was pouring with sweat. Kakashi was always too busy training Naruto and Sai, so Sakura trained herself and sometimes obtaining injuries that sometimes put her in near-death situations. _

_"I have to become stronger, I have to become stronger. The hell Naruto and Kakashi, I can become stronger by myself" She kept on training._

_"If you train that much, you'll die missy" a deep voice said. Sakura whipped around and said_

_"Whose there?" a young man emerged from the bushes. He was tall well-built man. He had blonde hair and was quite handsome. He could match to Sasuke. Sakura was unaffected after what happened with Sasuke. _

_"Who are you and why are you here?" she got into a fighting pose. He put his hands in front of him._

_"I'm not here to fight. I'm Kenji Masato and I'm a new ninja to Konoha, I transferred from the Rain country" Sakura relaxed and put her kunai away. Kenji walked closer. She stiffened a bit but relaxed at his smiling face. He stuck his hand out which she accepted after hesitating a bit. _

_"Sakura Haruno" Kenji smiled... and kept smiling...and kept smiling. Sakura's eyebrow twitched and she punched his head, not hard enough to give him a concussion but hard enough to give him a big bump. _

_"What was that for Sakura-chan?" Kenji whined. _

_"Stop smiling, it's annoy-" Sakura stopped mid-sentence. She was about to say annoying. That word brought back locked memories; memories about a certain man. She shook her head, if she became like him, she would never forgive herself._

_"It's distracting and don't call me that" _

_"Is my smile too charming for you?" Sakura old emotions resurfaced and for moment she was about to laugh and hit him again but she stopped herself in time. _

_"Stop dreaming, I can't be charmed"_

_"Hm... I see. Hey Sakura-chan, why are you training so hard? I don't know much about Konoha but I do know that you are put into teams. Where's the rest of your team?"_

_"Don't call me that. My team are too busy training for me" A question appeared on top of Kenji's head. _

_"Then why don't you train together?" Despite his Casanova look, he was surprising clueless. _

_"Because they consider me weak and a waste of time" Kenji's eyes grew into the size of saucers. _

_"WHAT?! ARE YOUR TEAMATES GODS?!" _

_"What.. No why would they be?"_

_"I mean, I've just seen you train and you are as strong as some of the strongest rain ninjas and believe me they are strong, so if your teammates consider you weak then they must be gods." Sakura couldn't help but release a small giggle and smile at his statement. Kenji smiled at her reaction. _

_"That's good, you smiled" Sakura stopped and looked at him_

_"What?" Kenji continued smiling._

_"Nothing, I just realised that when I started talking to you, you never smiled, not once." Sakura felt something that she hadn't felt in a while; trust and friendship. Kenji slung his arm around her shoulders._

_"Well to celebrate out new friendship, can you show me around town Sakura-chan?" Sakura punched him in the gut. _

_"One, don't touch me. Two, don't call me that" Kenji slowly recovered and got up. Sakura started walking away._

_"Eh where are you going?"_

_"To show you around town, didn't you ask me to?" Kenji smiled and caught up with her. And that's how Sakura's heart slowly began to heal_

_*A few months later_

_"Come one Sakura-chan" _

_"No, Kenji. I refuse to go in there and take those creepy pink photos"_

_"What's wrong with pink?"_

_"Just no" Kenji begged her_

_"Please! I won't ask you for anything for a month." _

_"Nah I'm good"_

_"I give you anything"_

_"No" Kenji smirked, he knew how to get her._

_"I'll teach you a new jutsu" This spiked Sakura's interest. _

_"What type of jutsu?"_

_"Teleportation using shadows and black cherry blossoms" Sakura's eyes widened, she was a sucker for shadow and black blossom jutsus. _

_"Fine..." she grumbled. Kenji jumped up with joy. _

_"Smile!" After the photos were taken, Kenji gave one to Sakura who said_

_"I don't need this" _

_"I want you to have it" Kenji held her hands._

_"It's our picture" Sakura's blushed. She punched Kenji in the stomach._

_"Don't touch me so familiarly" She ran back to her house. Kenji got up and shouted _

_"SEE YOU TOMORROW!" _

_Sakura ran home, and went straight to her room. Since Naruto and everyone left her, her room had been bare, she removed every picture of them. She dug around for an old picture frame and put her newly received picture in. She put it on her bedside. Sakura stared at the picture and thought_

_"Our picture..." _

_*Few months later_

_Sakura asked Tsunade if she could pull out of Team 7 for a while and team up with Kenji. However, she told her not to tell anyone. Tsunade agreed as she also thought Kenji was helping her. _

_"Kenji, Sakura, you will got to Orochimaru's hide out and collect information. Be careful" Sakura wasn't feeling especially good. Orochimaru was where that jerk was. Kenji noticed her change in behaviour but didn't want to pry. After they left for the mission, Sakura often spaced out and Kenji had to shake her to focus. They stopped for the night and Kenji decided to ask what's wrong._

_"Sakura-chan what's wrong? You've been spacing out all day." Sakura stiffened. _

_"N-nothing's wrong, just tired I guess" She avoided his eyes. _

_"Sakura... we both know you suck at lying" Sakura cursed under her breath. It was worth a try. She didn't' say anything for a while. _

_"Don't you trust me?" asked Kenji._

_"Of course I do" she burst out. Her face reddened and she retracted into her shell. Kenji smirked._

_"I do trust you but I'm scared I'm going to break down" _

_"Don't worry, break down if you want to." Sakura couldn't take it anymore. She let everything out. She cried and cried into Kenji's chest while telling him everything; everything about Sasuke, and Naruto and their relationships, her parents and just everything. Kenji just listened and patted her back occasionally. Sakura eventually fell asleep and Kenji kissed her on her hair. _

_"Sleep well Sakura" he thought. _

_*The next morning_

_Sakura felt much better after spilling all that to Kenji. They found Orochimaru's hide out and started to collect information. But they got separated. Kenji and Sakura tried to look for each other but couldn't. Sakura was ambushed. A group of Orochimaru's men came out and started attacking her. She could manage them but she was distracted my thinking about Kenji, that she didn't sense an attacker behind her. He slashed at her back and she collapsed. She tried to defend herself but was doing a horrible job. _

_Kenji sniffed the air and he could smell fresh blood. His eyes widened as he recognised the scent. It was Sakura's blood. He ran as fast as he could towards the direction that it was coming from. He came to a clearing and from Sakura with kunai sticking out of her legs and arms. He would have gasped but he didn't that the time as kunai was whizzing straight for her body. He ran and intercepted... the kunai hitting his arm instead. He winced but ignored it. He picked up Sakura and ran away. When he was sure that the place he has stopped was safe, he put Sakura down and collapsed. He treated his arm and went over to Sakura. She was barely conscious. He didn't want to but he knew he had to take those kunais out of her body or they could get infected. _

_Sakura woke up and found her body covered in bandages. Kenji's face was lying a few centimetres away from her face. She sat up quickly, flustered. But her blush retracted when she remembered what happened. She was ambushed. Did Kenji save her? She looked at the sleeping figure of Kenji. She kissed his forehead. And to her surprise, he smiled. He opened one eye and she screamed._

_"W-w-were you awake?" _

_"Yep" and he stuck his tongue out. Sakura's face turned totally red. She got up to run but Kenji pulled her into a hug. _

_"Sakura, I care about you so much, I was so stressed to see you in that state. Don't scare me like that again." Sakura slowly returned the hug._

_"Kenji..."_

_"Sorry to disturb this lovely dovey scene but seriously it's disgusting" The pair turned around and found Orochimaru. Sakura was about to stand up but Kenji beat her and he stood in front of Sakura. _

_"Again" she thought. "I'm watching the back of my teammate again." An image of Sasuke and Naruto's backs came into her mind when they use to protect her. She detested it but in her mind she knew she was in no condition to fight. She was so engrossed with Kenji's swift movements and precision that she didn't see a kunai flying towards her. Kenji sensed something and looked at Sakura. He saw the kunai and ran towards her. Orochimaru stopped attacking and smiled. Sakura looked in confusion at Kenji racing towards her. She turned to see the kunai but was too late. She waited for the impact...it never came. She opened her eyes saw Kenji's face. He released her and coughed out blood. The kunai had hit his heart. Sakura's eyes widened with disbelief. _

_"N-n-no...this can't be happening...this is a dream right Kenji..." Orochimaru smiled evilly and melted into the shadows. _

_"Yes that's right Sakura. Lock away your heart once more. I have great plans for you." _

_Kenji collapsed onto the ground. Blood seeped through his shirt. Sakura was still in shock but her emerald eyes were brimmed with tears. She gasped and pumped chakra into Kenji. _

_"I can make it...Kenji will make it...come on" Kenji opened her eyes with much effort._

_"Sakura...stop..." Sakura was now crying...something she hadn't done since Sasuke left._

_"NO...you'll make it...you'll make it..."_

_"Sakura..." Sakura's hands weakened. Even she knew it was too late now. _

_"No... No... No..." she cried. Kenji lifted his hand until he reached Sakura's cheek. _

_"Sakura... I love you... I have since the first time I laid my eyes on you when you were training your ass off." Sakura grabbed his hand and sobbed._

_"Sakura I love you...don't forget that." His hand became slack. Sakura looked at his face in panic._

_"Kenji...Kenji?!" Kenji's eyes closed and they didn't open again._

_"KENJI!" she screamed. White light overcame her._

*End of dream/flashback

"NO! KENJI!" Sakura sat up straight, her face streaked with tears. She looked at her surroundings and her mind returned. _Suna, mission, Uchiha, sleeping. _She looked at the picture of Kenji and herself. _Been a while since I've had that dream... I miss you Kenji..._


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

*Back when Sasuke slammed the door

*SLAM

**WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!**

_Great...Are you angry at me too?_

**YOU FREAKING IDIOT! THAT PUSHED YOU EARNGING HER TRUST BACK A GAZILLION YEARS1! **

_I'm just doing as she wants me to. I'll leave her alone; I won't care about her anymore. She can go die for all I care..._

**REALLY? DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT?! **

_Just leave me alone, I need time to vent out my anger and think. _

**FINE BUT AT THIS RATE SAKU-CHAN WILL DEFINIETLY DIE**

_Like I care... _

Sasuke entered his room and tried to sleep but the pictures of Sakura and that guy filled his mind. _Why am I so disturbed but her and that guy together? I've never felt this way before... I'm not jealous...am I? Uchiha's don't feel petty feelings like that. _

**ARE YOU AN- **

_I told you to shut it!_

Sasuke looked up at the ceiling, his mind filled with thoughts about his feelings towards Sakura, the picture of Sakura with that man. He got more frustrated and frustrated and he was about to snap when he heard a scream.

"NO! KENJI!" Sasuke sat up at the sound of Sakura's voice. _Sakura?! _His brain processed what she had said. _Kenji? Who's that? Is he that guy from the picture? If it is got to do with that guy, it's not my business. _Sasuke laid back down, feeling more frustrated than he has ever felt in his life. He tried to fall asleep but that didn't work. He tried tiring himself out by doing extreme exercise but that didn't work either. The thought of Sakura and that guy kept him on the ball.

_Damn it. Why do I feel so aggravated at the thought of Sakura and "Kenji"..._

**FOR THE LAST TIME , YOU ARE IN LOVE WITH HER! I've said this before and I'll say it again. For you a smart guy-**

_You are kind of dumb. How many times have you said that?_

**Since you know it so well, YOU SHOULD TAKE IT INTO ACCOUNT!**

_...Hn_

**Aw hell no! Don't you Hn me mister!**

_Huh..._

**Oops got a little out of character...ANYWAY just admit that you like her.**

_I don't..._

**I've gotten tired of this argument. I'm telling you for the last time that you are in love with Sakura and that is final so if you'll excuse me I have a date to go to. **

_Huh...HUH!? Wha-Da-what?!_

**UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE I accept the fact that I like someone**

_Who are you going on a date with?!_

**Inner Sakura.**

_... WHAT?!_

**Didn't I tell you? Oh well we started dating a few weeks after we came back**

_Does Sakura know?!_

**Nope**

_Great. But I thought her inner is on the verge of taking over Sakura's soul_

**YEAH SO I'M DISTRACTING HER! But I also really like her...she's quite pretty and funny and-**

_I've heard enough_

Sasuke couldn't believe it. His inner was dating her inner?! WHY WAS HE NOT INFORMED OF THIS?! But then he thought what Sakura's reaction would be if she found about it. He snickered to himself as he thought about Sakura's possible reactions. His mind soon calmed down at the funny thought and he soon drifted off to sleep.

*The next day

Sasuke woke up to the knocking on his door. He looked at it in frustration. When he opened it up he was greeted with a punch to the face. He stumbled back. He looked up with anger but only saw Sakura with a very angry face.

"Ha-Haruno... What do you think you're doing?!" he said, angrily. He was still angry about the night before but he still took in her appearance. Rather than her braid, her hair was let out today and he realised that it made her look a little bit innocent.

"I've been knocking for the past 15 minutes and you think you have the right to be angry?" she asked in a dangerous tone. Her shoulders were shaking and you could tell that it was taking all her will power to supress the anger.

"Meeting in Gaara's office, thanks to you now I'm late too." With a swish of her hair, she walked down the hallway. Sasuke's nose was filled with the scent of cherry blossoms as her hair returned back on her back. He missed the scent and didn't move for quite a bit but he returned to reality when his brain processed what Sakura had told him. _I'd better get ready _and closed the door to get ready.

Sasuke walked towards Gaara's office and was about to open it when he heard Gaara and Sakura talking.

"-are you going to be ok?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well Orochimaru killed him"

"You think I don't remember?" Sasuke could detect scorn in her voice.

"I was just saying if you are prepared to face him"

"I am always ready."

"By the way where is Uchiha?" Sakura scoffed.

"I dunno where that asshole is. He wasn't going to make me any later than I already was." Right after that statement Sasuke went in. Sakura didn't move at all. Sasuke looked at them before sitting down.

"So what is this meeting about?" Sakura suddenly spoke.

"It's not nice to ears drop Uchiha" Gaara looked at Sasuke seriously.

"How much did you hear?"

"Not much" Gaara looked at Sakura, as if asking if it was ok

"Meh I don't care" Gaara nodded

"Continuing, we have stated that the one behind all of this is Orochimaru. We need to find his hideout and kill him before he does anymore of his tricks"

"So this is an assassination mission?" asked Sasuke

"When do we leave?" Sasuke looked at Sakura in surprise. They had been handed an assassination mission. Shouldn't she be a least a little bit worried? She wasn't used to this kind of mission right?

"You leave in the morning 6 am sharp. Sorry I need to go to another meeting now" When Gaara left them, Sasuke and Sakura walked back to their rooms in silence. Sasuke decided to end the silence. He walked in front of her and faced her

"Haruno, are you going to be ok with this type of mission?" Sakura stopped and started shaking when she looked up her eyes had a murderous glint. When she spoke her voice was low and dangerous.

"I don't know how weak you think I am but don't think I'm so weak that I can't handle assassination missions because I can." Sasuke took a step back. Sakura took one forward.

"What happened to not caring about me Uchiha? If you say you say you're going to do something then please a least try and make an effort of doing it." She brushed past him and walked back to her room slamming her door after she walked in. Sasuke stared after her in amazement. He straightened himself up and returned back to his room.

*The next morning

When Sasuke was ready the next morning, Sakura was already waiting at the gate of Suna.

"What time did you arrive?" Sakura turned around.

"5" Sasuke's eyes widened

"Why were you here so early? Did you skip breakfast or something?"

"Mind your own business" without another word Sakura started running and Sasuke followed.

Silence overtook them as they ran. Sakura's eyes looked dead and Sasuke's was studying her looking for other peculiar things about her.

"Can you not stare at me like that? Keep your eyes on the road" sakura said. Sasuke looked away blushing.

"I wasn't staring. You look dead" Sakura chuckled but her voice sounded weary and well...dead

"Well that's a nice way to compliment a girl."

"What's wrong? Did you pull an all-nighter or something?" Sakura's fist clenched and she then she suddenly yelled at Sasuke.

"STOP IT! STOP WORRYING ABOUT ME! STOP TRYING TO GET CLOSE TO ME! STOP TRYING TO REGAIN MY TRUST! STOP TRYING TO SAVE ME FROM MYSELF! JUST STOP IT! ITS-" Sakura hesitated for a second. Did she dare say it? "ITS ANNOYING" Sasuke's speed slowed down as he heard those two words. He noticed that Sakura looked taken back she had spoken those words that had caused her so much pain in her childhood. Sakura swallowed and ran past him. Sasuke looked as she passed...but he didn't miss the sound of her holding her tears and the few escapee tears that slide down her face.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 (fluff!)**

Sasuke didn't know what to do. That was the least to say, they were still trying to track down Orochimaru but he was mainly following Sakura and she made sure that there a 3 metre gap between them when they were travelling. He often wondered what happened to his old self. The one who was so confident and emotionless, but those were driven by the hatred for his brother. Now that he had killed Itachi he lost most of those feelings. There's no denying that he still had huge ego but he didn't have the hatred that locked most of his other feelings away.

*With Sakura

_Ah crap, I let out tears..._

**You know it's not a crime to cry.**

_I don't want to see him to see me cry_

**Why?**

_It would cause unnecessary complications_

**Huh?**

_Don't you realise that I've been talking harshly to him more than I normally do?_

**Oh yeah**

_If I didn't, then I would had let out witty comment or perhaps even a laugh at those times_

**Then WHY DON'T YOU?!**

_Because...that would make him closer to me..._

**Wait what?**

_Didn't you know that my main purpose was to drive him away from me?_

**No... why would you do that? **

_Everyone who becomes close to me either leaves me or gets hurt.._

**You still care about him?**

_..._

**Sakura answer the question**

_..._

**SAKURA!**

_OK! I DO OK?! I STILL CARE ABOUT HIM! EVEN AFTER KENJI AND EVEN AFTER ALL THOSE TIMES HE HURT ME! I HAVE DREAMS ABOUT WHEN HE LEFT ME AND ALL THE TIMES WE SHARED!_

**Oh...**

_I don't want him to get hurt but I also...don't want to get hurt again._

**Saku chan...**

_That's why I've been pushing everyone away. I'm afraid. I'm always been afraid. _

**Saku chan, Sasuke will understand if you just tell him.**

_How do you know?_

**Because... I'm dating...Inner Sasuke**

_Wait...WHAT?! _

"WHAT?!" Sakura suddenly shouted. Sasuke looked at Sakura as if she was crazy. He realised that she had been acting weird ever since she yelled at him.

_I wonder what's wrong_

**There you go wondering again**

_What?_

**It's not like you to worry**

_Fine. I'll tell you something that you've been wanting to hear for a long time_

**Hm?**

_I... I think I'm in love with Sakura ok?!_

**...OH YEAH! WHOSE THE MAN? YOU THE MAN!**

_Shut up_

**_I TOLD YOU!_**

_Ok I've decided, I'm going to talk to Sakura tonight._

**WOOOO! I WILL BE ROOTING FOR YOU ALL THE WAY**

_Oh yeah can you transfer minds?_

**Yeah, why?**

_Ask Inner Sakura what just happened_

**Gotcha**

*In Sakura's Mind

**Look I'm sorry...**

_Why didn't you tell me you were dating that jerk's inner?_

**_Yo! Saku-chan!_**

**Sasu-chan...**

_Who are you? And how did you get in my mind_

**_I'm Inner Sasuk_****e, ****_don't worry I'm nothing like that jerk_**

**Sasu-chan I just told her about us...**

**_...hahaha! Your reaction was worse than Sasuke_**

_He knew about this?_

Sakura cast a look back and Sasuke who was looking at her and she glared at him hard. Sasuke looked as confused as ever.

**Saku-chan...please...**

_Leave me alone_

Sakura pushed the both of them out of her mind and when she felt her inner leaving her, she raced forward and when she was good 50 metres away, she let the tears run down her face.

*In Sasuke's mind

**_We're back!_**

_Who's we?_

**Hi! I'm inner sakura**

_Oh_

**_She just told sakura about us_**

_So that's why..._

**I don't think she took it well... I can feel her crying**

_Pfff...Sakura never cries_

**Just not to your face**

_..._

**_Anyway, tonight Sasuke is trying to talk to Sakura...about that_**

**Oh well good luck, I can feel her pulling me back**

**_Bye Saku-chan!_**

_Hn_

Sasuke returned to reality and it was already nightfall. He caught up to Sakura who had already made camp. For what only seemed like for one person.

"Um... Haruno" she glared at him

"What..."

"Why is there only one tent? Where's mine?"

"What, you expect me to be your servant?"

"No..."

"To answer your question, that one is yours"

"Where's yours then?"

"I don't have one." Sasuke looked at her in surprise.

"You forgot?"

"No, I don't sleep in tents; I sleep in the trees, easier if enemies attack"

"Hn..." Sasuke started a fire and started getting out their dinner. They both ate in silence. Until Sasuke ended it.

"Har-no...Sakura" Sasuke said. This made Sakura look at him in surprise and with caution.

"We need to talk" Sakura turned away again.

"We have nothing to talk about." She stood up and started walking away. Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. He ran up to her... and hugged her from behind... just like she had all those years ago.

Sakura looked shocked. Her hands lay limp at her sides but then weakly tried to pry his arms off.

"L-let go..." her voice wavered. Sasuke buried his face in her hair.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry for everything" Sakura seized up and she felt her eyes brimming with tears. _Geez I'm crying a lot today._

"P-please let me go..." Her hands fell as she gave up trying to pry his hands off.

"I'm sorry for making you cry again. I swore I wouldn't anymore. I'm so sorry" Sakura couldn't hold it back. The tears came running down her face. Sasuke felt something wet on his arm and felt Sakura shivering. _Is...She crying? _He turned her around and hugged her tight. She didn't care anymore. She had kept it in long enough. She cried...hard. She buried her head in his chest and cried. Sasuke held her tight and kept whispering I'm sorry in her ear. The crying didn't cease. Her legs gave way and they were on their knees, in the same position. Sakura soon was overcome by exhaustion from all the crying and fell asleep in Sasuke's arms. He carried her to his tent and laid her down. He kissed her forehead. _Goodnight, my blossom. _He hugged her and drifted off as well. A smile appeared on the sleeping Sakura's face.

The next morning, Sakura woke up and the first thing she saw was grey fabric. _What... where am I? _She looked to her left and saw a sleeping Sasuke. She was in his embrace and she had no idea how. At first she was angry. Very angry. She was about to break free and teach him a thing or two but then she remembered what had happened last night. _Ah great... _But never the less she smiled and brushed his bangs on one side. The motion woke the raven. He squinted and saw a smiling angel in front of him.

"Ohayo" he said hugging her. Sakura protest was muffled as her face was now against his chest.

"Uchiha...don't do that so sudden" he released her and frowned at her.

"I don't like that name...Call me Sasuke-kun like you use to" Sakura shook her head.

"I don't want to be a fan girl anymore Sasuke" Sasuke stretched and released the girl.

"Well Sasuke's a good start" Sakura smiled and got up too. Their inners were both thinking the same thing

**Why are they acting like completely different people? Love really does do strange things**


End file.
